Faux Pas
by Stellaaar
Summary: An account of the dating exploits of one James Potter as directed towards one Lily Evans. "I will have Lily Evans if it's the last thing I do!" Only, generally declaring such a thing is more trouble than the one announcing it realizes. A first fic. R&R?
1. And So It Begins

Welcome to Faux Pas, what will one day be a happy account of the dating exploits of Lily Evans and James Potter!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the rights to the Harry Potter series, that would be J.K.Rowling. If I did, I would have more money than I could ever possibly figure out what to do with. A plight I don't anticipate occurring anytime soon.

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Perfection was something commonly viewed to be unattainable by both Muggle and Wizarding communities. In fact, it was one of few views that both magical and non-magical folk alike agreed upon. The second view agreed upon by both communities was the fact that Sunday afternoons were far preferable to any other afternoon on any other day of the week. The third (and by far most important) agreement pertained mostly to the first, in saying that James Potter was as near perfection as anyone was likely to get.

Or, at least, this was the common view of all Wizard and Muggle born youths at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.

It had been exactly six years to the day since James Potter had taken his first step onto the grounds of Hogwarts School as a slightly timid eleven year old. In those six years James had grown into a loud and nefarious teen, easily becoming the most popular and infamous face the school had seen in many years. Teachers held hushed conversations from their long tables at the front of the Great Hall every year, wishing, hoping, that the Potter boy would stay as far away from their classrooms as he was able. The students however, all but the first years, fought hand over fist for the opportunity to welcome him back before their fellows, shaking his hand, and calling cries of, 'To another good year then, mate!'

James' popularity was due to four main attributes.

The first was the boy's eerie talent on the Quidditch pitch. As many of his Wizarding fellows, James had been playing Quidditch since he'd first been tall enough to mount a broom stick. As an only child, James had first played with his father in fairly one-sided games that had taught him all of the basic ins and outs of the world-famous Wizarding sport. As he grew and made his own friends, James began playing with teams of children who lived round about his home, just outside Godric's Hollow. By the time the Potter boy had reached Hogwarts, he had been the best Seeker in his area and an easy addition to the Gryffindor Team since reaching an appropriate age. The players agreed, unanimously, that James was a good deal of the reason that the proud lions of Gryffindor had brought home the House Cup year after year, and the fans agreed, unanimously, that one day they would see James Potter playing Seeker for Britain in the World Cup. School-wide fame for being a sporting hero was hardly enough for James Potter though, and his second call to glory was a most excellent compliment to his first.

It was as ring-leader of the Marauders that James became equally known. Shortly after meeting Sirius Black in first year, the Potter boy had known they had a destiny far beyond friendship. Sirius and James were not pals, not mates, but _comrades_. The school of Hogwarts and its inhabitants were their playground, and the fine products of Zoinkos their playthings. With the addition of the brilliant werewolf Remus Lupin, and grunt work of Peter Pettigrew, the four grew close to gods in the Gryffindor common room. From settling scores with Slytherins, to ending school events with an unexpected 'bang', James had beamed his way through detentions and extra assignments with Sirius by his side, impatient for the moment in which he would return to Moony and Wormtail to begin plotting their next charade. Heralded by the students of three houses and disdained by those of one, the four trouble makers made easy history of Hogwarts School.

The third attribute to James's exploding popularity was how abnormally easy-going he was. There was nothing he wouldn't do, nowhere he wouldn't go, and no one he wouldn't see, even for a complete stranger. James was friends with everyone, causing his praises to be sung through every swinging staircase in the school. Though he wasn't someone you'd want to go to get homework done, James could do just about anything else. If you needed someone put in their place, he was there. If you didn't have the courage to speak to the girl of your dreams, he was there. If you needed a quick lift of spirits, he was there (accompanied by a bottle of fire whiskey, of course). If you weren't a slimy Slytherin, James Potter was your go-to man. He was noble, he was chivalrous, and he was nothing short of a hero within the crimson and gold draped rooms he called home.

The fourth and very likely most important (at least to the boy himself) thing that burgeoned his popularity was James' uncanny good looks. There was not a cell on James's body that didn't hum with perfection. From the desirably dishevelled black locks on the top of his head, to the soles of his perfect feet, he was gorgeous. Lithely muscled from regular Quidditch practice, James was built as an athlete, like a wild cat. Draped with graceful sinew, James was strong without being burly, quick without being a featherweight, and sculpted as if he was a Muggle masterpiece breathed to life. Soft lips, hazel eyes, and sun kissed skin suited him well, warranting the fawning fan club of Muggle and Wizarding girls alike who would have followed him to the end of the world for nothing but a flash of his pearly white teeth.

There were many who resented James for his near-perfection, though. Most of these were not people of note—either residents of the dungeon, or jealous males who had never worked up the courage to get to know the Gryffindor idol. There was one person, though, however inconsequential, who James absolutely abhorred, and who abhorred him in return. No matter how many of his peers shook his hands in the hallways, clapped his shoulder after a good game, or offered to assist him in any way possible should ever he need it, all of that could not make up for the fact that Severus Snape was always in the corner of his mind's eye.

Snape was the bane of the Potter boy's existence. Being Slytherin, it was easy to see the different ideals which marked the separation between them. Snape was eerie, slimy, alone, and sour. James was noble, adored, jovial, and courageous. The two were born to be arch enemies, wands meeting at every turn, sneer meeting determined frown in clash after clash between two titans of the Wizarding school. Snape was the victim of many a Marauder plot, whether at James' direction, or that of Sirius, who shared his best mate's disdain for the greasy dark-haired dungeon dweller, and Snape retaliated in a way that was far worse than cheating.

He told Lily Evans.

Lily Evans, the only girl in all of Hogwarts, perhaps even in the entire world, who would not accept an invitation to dinner from James Potter. The only girl in whom James found even the slightest challenge. The Prefect with the auburn ponytail and emerald cut eyes, whose glare sent shock waves through even James' rock hard stomach if he so much as smiled at her. Lily Evans, as he had been telling his best friends, who he wanted more than anything.

"She's too good for you, mate." Was Sirius' expert opinion. The dark haired Gryffindor was lounging luxuriously in one heavily-padded crimson armchair by the common room fire, large black army boots resting on the coffee table without so much as a thought to the effort that went into cleaning it. James often found occasion to be jealous of his best friend, who, despite James' best efforts, managed to equal his handsome charm in a more ruggedly masculine way.

"She is _not_ too good for me."

Remus seemed to decide his input was warranted at this point, previous silence in the conversation being driven away in light of the tone of James' voice, one likely to end with a fist in Sirius' mouth. "I suppose it depends on which way Sirius means it. I'm almost certain that he's implying that Lily is a very responsible, intelligent girl, who would rather deduct house points from you than agree to go with someone who spends most of his effort in pranking, not grades." Looking to Sirius for approval, Remus nodded his own sage head in time with Sirius' agreeing head bob.

"Oh." James' quandary became more internal as his perfect brow creased in thought. It was possible that they were right. Lily Evans was very good. She was top of her class, prefect, certainly in line to be Head Girl, and had often deducted House Points from James rather than look at him. When she was _not_ deducting house points, she was often frowning at him, scolding him, or cursing him. All things that hinted at Sirius and Remus being more correct than James would have liked to admit. Pulling a face at his unwanted revelation, James tuned in to the conversation just as Peter was finishing a verbal thought.

"...quite possible. I don't think Lily turns him down because she's too good for him. Lily's very nice you know, she's helped me with my homework more often than I do it myself. I think it's probably just that she doesn't realize that James can be nice too."

"Yes, exactly!" James cheered, finding his feet in his excitement; beaming at Peter for all that he was worth. "It's only because she thinks I'm a pompous, arrogant prick, who gets some sort of sick pleasure out of making Snape's life a living hell." Peter fluffed himself with pride at being right, while Sirius sent the short rotund boy a sidelong glance that clearly outlined how insane he believed the boy to be.

"Perhaps that's because you _are_ a pompous, arrogant prick, who gets some sort of sick pleasure out of making Snape's life a living hell."

James snorted scornfully, but collapsed, defeated, back into his armchair. "Alright. So I do enjoy causing Snivellus a little grief now and then. Who could blame me? That doesn't mean I'm a total wanker. I can be perfectly gentlemanly thank you very much." Crossing his arms across his broad chest, James sulked, much to Sirius' amusement.

"You're _my_ knight in shining armour, James, dear."

It took approximately half a second for James to launch a crimson pillow at his best mate with a sigh. "You, Sirius Black, are a total ponce." This seemed to charm Sirius rather than offend him, and the dark haired Black simply winked handsomely at James in way of response. Getting once more to his feet, James began to pace a familiar path back and forth in front of the hearth, hands clasped behind his back, thinking face on.

"Don't hurt yourself, mate." Serious drawled, receiving only a short scathing glare in return, as James marched a path to and fro, making furrows in the carpet with his socked feet. Finally, after many minutes of consideration, and making his friends considerably woozy from tracing his repetitive path with their eyes, James halted before the fireplace, the warm orange glow of flames issuing from behind him as if he were deigned of god.

"Well gentlemen, I don't care if she _is_ too good for me, and I don't care if I _am_ a bloody jerk. This year I _will_ have Lily Evans, if I have to give up all that I hold dear to do it!"

This sent Sirius into a bought of uncontrollable laughter, a barking sound that neatly covered Remus' attempt at politely laughing into his hand, and Pete's squeak of surprise. James, off in his own world, heard none of it, instead standing before the fire, hand on his narrow hips, with the determined but pleased look of an early European explorer stamped across his face.

After all, he was going to have Lily Evans.

If it was the last thing he did.

Only, he had no idea what he was getting himself into.

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I realize that this is rather short, but having never written fan fiction before, I was rather hoping to get some feedback before continuing.

So, constructive criticism is appreciated, pleaseandthankyou!


	2. Dawns a New Day

Welcome back! I'm sorry for the rather long pause. Writing for me is a habitual thing, but I tend to get lost in other stories, which will make this slow going. However I do promise to make it the best I can, and hopefully worth your while. Constructive criticism is always welcome!

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Lily Evans was not perfect, but a Prefect.

Contrary to popular belief, these were two very different ideas. A Prefect was not expected to be perfect, rather, they were expected to know and obey house, classroom, and school rules. They were charged with Prefect duties, such as nightly patrols of the Hogwarts hallways, deducting or giving house points where they were due, keeping a wary eye on the common rooms which they frequented, and promoting peace between houses. In exchange they received the respect of their elders, private dormitories, and the use of private more elaborate bathrooms among other small perks of the job. Prefects were expected to be a select few privileged students who vowed in exchange for those privileges to mind their elders, keep their peers in line, and not favour one student over another, or punish one more harshly than they would another.

This was inevitably where both perfection and being a perfect Prefect fell through.

Lily had quite the temper.

It was something that she was very afraid she could not control.

As a young girl Lily had been her parent's dear little girl. She had done her chores and studied her lessons, played the piano, and could nearly always be found humming a cheery tune just when one was needed. Lily was the perfect child that all parents solemnly pray for each night before they retire to nightmares about how wicked children really are. Or at least, that was Lily until the birth of her younger sister, Petunia. To be perfectly clear, it was not jealousy or only-child-syndrome which drove Lily to the temper that she maintained, but rather it was that in the years to come, Lily found out firsthand how frustrating people could be.

Lilly enjoyed looking after her sister in the beginning. Every child of a young age is happy to help with a baby, as Lily was, until that same baby grew to be large enough to play with her things, steal her sweets, and smear marmalade all over the keys of her piano. Still, that was what life with siblings was like, and she endured. Like most siblings however, Lily developed a very strong reaction to the misbehaving of her younger sister, especially when Petunia turned out to be so very different from the Evans golden girl. Such animosity grew between the two that when Lily's time to leave for Hogwarts came, Lily was hardly sorry to see her sister's face go as the Crimson train chugged away from Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

And then, not half a year in to her term at Hogwarts, Lily met James Potter. And suddenly, all the frustration she held for her sister, the grief over the peers in her middle school who had not understood her brilliance, the anger at once again being 'the new girl', boiled out in the only direction it had to go. Right at that miserably pompous, arrogant, self absorbed, good for nothing Potter boy.

From the beginning Lily could not stand him.

For every time Potter egged Lily Evans on, he received nothing but a curse, generally right between the eyes. For two years Potter teased and nagged, picking on Lily Potter, who did not know the rules of Quidditch, and was clearly as Muggle-minded as they come. Of course, then Lily did a thing that all children eventually do, and she grew up. She filled out in all the right places while still remaining her slightly lanky, fair self. She, like the other girls in her dormitory took to safety pinning the inside of her robes at the back to offer a less overwhelming shape. But most importantly, Lily Evans became really very good. She devoted herself again to learning, while maintaining a happy social life, and learned to simply turn the other way when James Potter or Sirius Black yelled at her from across the dining table, as they had noticed her newfound charm as well.

Lily became utterly untouchable to the Marauders, and better yet, she found the ability to direct any anger she might build up at the one boy who annoyed her—and deserved it—most.

That did not stop James Potter from making her first morning back to Hogwarts thoroughly unenjoyable, however.

She had been sitting straight-backed at the Gryffindor table, a plate of biscuits and ham before her, attempting to read a letter that had been given to her by her mother shortly after arriving at the London train station. She loved her mother—bless her heart—but the woman had the most indecipherable hand writing. Of course, distracted as she was, that had made the perfect moment for James to interrupt her thoughts, her flagon of juice careening over, spilling into her plate, lap, and over her letter, the ink running almost immediately. It took Lily a moment after reaching her feet—sticky and soaked in fruit juice—to realize that the cause of the upset had been a folded paper frog who had leaped into her cup. A cute bit of spellwork, but nonetheless not appreciated. Placing her own letter in a dry spot on the wooden table, Lily muttered a drying charm at it as she simultaneously began to pry open the folded frog which was—still—attempting to leap every which-a-way. By the time she had opened it, Lily need but to glance at the contents ('Surely you would like to go out with me this year. Love, James') before being able to visualize steam billowing out of her ears.

It brought to mind the Muggle stereotype about red heads and Irish tempers.

Lily, however, had retained her sense. She quickly dried her robes, vanished the juice on the table, and set aside her breakfast plate, sadly untouched. The letter from her mother had dried correctly, but the handwriting was by that time so smeared that Lily couldn't see herself being able to read it without a special text analyst. Perhaps she would take it to Madame Pince later that afternoon. Excusing herself from the table, Lily walked calmly down the long stretch of carpet to the end of the table where James and his cohorts sat, guffawing loudly to themselves. It was more than she could bear. Calmly, Lily handed the crunched parchment frog to her tormentor, her expression severely straight, one eyebrow arched softly in anticipation of an explanation. This was something to which James obliged, beginning immediately with, "Ah, Lily, I'm so very sorry. You see, Sirius here told me that he knew what he was doing…" Lily simply couldn't contain her red-headed rage as long as she thought that she could, and found herself scooping up James' own goblet of juice and tossing the contents in his face.

His expression was near priceless.

Lily, unlike other girls, knew how to get to James. Where she had once been mocked for being Muggle-minded, it was that exact trait in her that so confounded the irritating Potter boy. So where she could have cursed him, Lily had instead found a much more pleasing—and unexpectedly Muggle—retribution. The open-jawed shock and utter disgust told her that she had done her job, and even more pleasantly, Lily knew that simply drying the juice would not get rid of the sticky sugary residue. For that James would have to get Remus to perform a more thorough cleaning on his robes, something pride would never allow James to do. Lily was nearly positive he hadn't paid enough attention in household charms to accomplish the act himself. Throwing a smile over her shoulder to the Syltherin table, Lily spun on her heel and marched out, feeling rather self satisfied indeed.

Halfway through the breakfast hour saw Lily sitting beneath her favourite tree facing the lake. She was happily sprawled out against the oak trunk, knees bent to support a thickly annotated copy of Sense and Sensibility in the early hours of morning. It was perhaps Lily's favourite time to be outdoors, the breakfast hour shielding her from dark haired nuisances and their Quidditch-playing pals. Of course, she was never left uninterrupted for too long, but the next interruption was of a far more pleasant sort.

"May I sit?"

The dark framed pale face of Severus Snape peered down at her, and Lily couldn't help but smile, tucking her book deftly away in her bag with one swift movement and patting the patch of grass beside her. Severus pondered the spot a moment before lowering himself to the ground in a sinuous movement, almost as if he had melted into that spot, sitting primly and stiffly, as if he thought the grass might bite him. "Good morning Severus."

Lily really did like Snape. As two Prefects they were beyond the griping of the Gryffindor and Slytherin houses, and though it was easy to see in conversation how different their worlds—and preconceptions of Muggles—were, Lily was not easily offended by Snape's blunt, uncareful manner. She far appreciated his calm, almost detestable natured pessimism to the blindingly idiotic prideful optimism of James Potter. A dislike of whom only served to bring them further together, for whatever awkward pair they were.

"Did you see what happened at breakfast?" Lily couldn't help but beam, straight white teeth (for which she'd suffered braces as a child) flashing in the morning light. "I swear Severus; the next time Potter so much as speaks to me he'll have more than a little wet spot to worry about. I'm inconsolably fed up." Severus' face didn't change, but Lily still saw the below-the-surface way of smiling that he had, a tenseness about his lips that normally formed a naturally relaxed scowl. "I should think that he'll become more cautious of approaching you with drink in your hand." Lily couldn't help but giggle a little at the statement, scooting forward in the grass so that she could topple gracefully backwards to investigate the tree branches above them carefully. "Ah, Severus. You always make me smile, did you know?" Snape didn't move, but his eyes slid from where they had been staring at the lake to her languid form, and his snarling lips divulged, "I had no idea."

This only served to delight Lily further, her tinkling laugh again sounding from her lips as she closed her eyes, breathing in the morning air. "Lay with me Severus. The dirt won't hurt you, I promise." Lily didn't open her eyes, but a moment later she heard the shifting of his robes, and swore she could feel the ground hum as he lay down beside her, she knew likely feeling very silly. That was just how Severus was. They lay there, side by side, in silence for a few minutes, Lily drinking in the morning and Severus drinking in the pleasure of being with Lily, until the sound of her stomach growling broke their quiet reverie.

"Damn that Potter."

Lily sat up, Severus following closely behind, very nearly smirking. "Is it funny for me to go hungry, Severus?" Lily chided, giving him her most darling reproachful expression. Severus merely shook his head, not changing his unpleasant smile in the least, instead withdrawing a napkin from his book bag which contained two biscuits, smothered with butter and honey. He passed them to her without a word, but Lily couldn't help but gasp slightly at the wonder of Severus actually doing something for someone else. "I didn't bring anything to drink, for I was afraid you'd throw it at me. Also, it would have spilled in my bag." This sent Lily into bright peals of laughter, smiling as she chuckled around large and not-entirely-lady-like bites of breakfast. Severus sneered at her manners, but Lily pretended not to notice until she had devoured every last crumb, getting to her feet as she did so.

"Alright then, come on now Severus."

Though he declined her offer to help him to his feet, Lily's heart was buoyed, and she couldn't help deploying use of her tip-toes in pressing a friendly kiss to his cheek. Snape looked displeased, but Lily could have cared less. "Now, walk with me to Care of Magical Creatures." Severus obliged, straightening his robes and book bag before beginning the trek down to the corrals. As they parted from view of the lake though, Severus imparted one last wish.

"Perhaps this time you could throw manure at him."

And so, Lily laughed so hard that she could hardly breathe, clutching the arm of Severus' robes all the way down the path to their first class of their first day back at Hogwarts.

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So. I hope this chapter didn't let you down. The story will alternate James and Lily's points of view, as they are both the main characters. If you have any ideas//input//constructive criticism, please let me know!

--Yours, Mimi


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